The past may seem the safest place to be . . . but it is the most dangerous time to be alive. . . . Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them twenty years to find each other again. Now the American Revolution threatens…
The Last Daughter is an unusual, intriguing novel featuring time travel, magical artifacts and an interesting defense of Anne Lovell. It’s well-written, well-researched, engrossing and incredibly original – but the magical world-building is somewhat weak. The plot is split between two different storylines which eventually intertwine in the last half of the novel. The first…
When I read A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, the first of Juliana Gray’s historical mystery series featuring the intrepid Emmeline Truelove, I wasn’t – at first – quite sure what to think. There’s a mystery, yes, and a bit of romance… but I wasn’t expecting the time travel element or the fact that the heroine has…
Having previously enjoyed Juliana Gray’s historical romances, I was intrigued when I learned she would be venturing into the sub-genre of historical mysteries with her latest series. It is connected to her Princess in Hiding books by virtue of the fact that the plot of A Most Extraordinary Pursuit revolves around the search for the…
At the Duke’s Wedding is a set of linked novellas, each one written by a well-known author in the world of historical romance. Each of the stories takes place in and around the two weeks leading up to the wedding of the eponymous Duke, and one of the things I particularly liked was the way…
Before I picked up 11/22/63, I hadn’t read a book by Stephen King in over twenty years. (I read The Tommyknockers in college, and let’s just say it put me off.) A chance comment by someone who I don’t even know well who “heard it was good” and a free Klout perk copy led me…
Have you ever wondered how reviewers balance review-reading and books for fun? Everyone does it differently, but I’m fairly regimented; starting at the beginning of the month, I’ll read three books for review (that’s our standard reviewer commitment), then my book club book. If I have any month left over (often I don’t), I’ll read…
If you like fast-moving stories that combine James Bond-like intrigue with romance, have I got a treat for you! Hot as Ice, the latest in retired Air Force officer Merline Lovelace’s Code Name: Danger series, is a fun story that I devoured in one sitting, and requires only a bit of suspension of disbelief. Major…
When I read Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog two years ago, I knew I’d have to read all her other books as well. It’s taken some time, but I finally read the fascinating Doomsday Book, which is every bit as good as TSNOTD, although it is completely different in tone. Doomsday Book…
To work well, a time travel romance needs both a compelling fantasy story with a plausible reason and device for the time travel to occur, and a compelling romance, with all the usual ingredients that requires – likable hero and heroine, believable conflicts, and a reasonable expectation of a happy-ever-after ending. Janeen O’Kerry’s Mistress of…